Wednesday, November 14, 2012

An Israeli air strike Wednesday killed the head of Hamas' military
wing, the first attack in a broader military operation against terrorist
targets in response to an increase in rockets fired on Israel from
Gaza.

Palestinian leaders
immediately condemned the Israeli attacks as an escalation, with the
Hamas military wing saying Israelis had opened "the gates of hell on
themselves."

Medical sources said nine people died in the Israeli air strikes, including a young girl, and 35 others were wounded.

An Israel Defense Forces
statement said the attack on a vehicle in Gaza carrying Ahmed
al-Ja'abari, the Hamas military leader, was part of "an extensive
program of direct offensive strikes against Hamas, Islamic Jihad" and
other terrorist targets approved by Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, the IDF chief
of staff.

So now on top of everything else President Obama is dealing with, we've got Bibi choosing about right now for getting his war on.

Lawmakers leading the charge acknowledge they remain short, but express optimism they’ll hit their goal.

“I
haven’t counted 51 just yet, but we’re working,” said Sen. Tom Udall
(D-N.M.), a leading proponent of the so-called constitutional or
“nuclear” option, in which Senate rules could be changed by a majority
vote.

“We’re building the momentum right now,” Udall said. “It’s hard to say
at this point, but I think it’s looking very good. The last two years
have really helped coalesce people’s minds around the idea that we need
to change the way we do business.”

The problem for Udall and
other supporters of filibuster reform is that many veteran Democratic
senators remember when the filibuster was a useful tool in their years
in the minority.

Dems don't want to go on record as making the Senate so partisan? Really? Have you guys seen the last four years? Your new Senate collegues were specifically elected because they ran on fixing the filibuster:

But Democrats can’t count on a number of their “old bulls,” as was reflected by a vote just two years ago.

Udall,
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) proposed a
package of reforms for the 112th Congress that would have eliminated
filibusters on motions to proceed to new business. Their package also
would have required senators wanting to hold up legislation or nominees
to actually hold the floor and debate, and shortened to two hours the
time that must elapse after a filibuster on a nominee has been cut off.

Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA) and Tom Price (GA) will go
head-to-head Wednesday afternoon as the members hold a closed-door vote
to elect the next House Republican Conference Chairman, the party’s No. 4
leadership role.

Speaker John Boehner is officially neutral but privately
supporting McMorris Rodgers. Paul Ryan, the returning chairman of the
Budget Committee whose profile rose enormously during his vice
presidential run, is asking colleagues to back Price.

McMorris Rodgers is the highest ranked woman in the House Republican
conference, and a loyal leadership ally who has earned their trust as
the conference’s vice-chair. A surrogate for Mitt Romney’s presidential
run, she isn’t known as a hard-line ideologue but has cultivated a
conservative voting record in recent years.

Price, meanwhile, is the favorite of the GOP’s conservative wing. A
former chairman of the deeply conservative Republican Study Committee,
he has been backed by outgoing conference chairman Rep. Jeb Hensarling
(TX), who is expected to chair the Banking Committee next year.

Those who support McMorris Rodgers say she’s in good shape to win.

Orange Julius on one side, Zombie-Eyed Granny Starver on the other. I'm hoping both sides lose, but let's keep in mind this position will be the person in charge of hashing out legislation with the Senate, and a Price win here would signal that the Tea Party is running things, Boehner's job is in serious trouble, and that there's zero chance of compromise with Senate Dems.

I'm hoping Price does get the nod. Giving away the game this early would make things a lot easier on the Democrats in the long run. We'll see who wins.

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With Republicans controlling the House and Senate and the Trump Regime now in charge of the Executive, there's still a crumbling global economy imperiling the world, rising nationalism and deadly racism across Europe and Asia, a seemingly endless war against terror, a federal government nobody trusts or believes in, global climate change putting us on the brink of destruction and a Village media that barely does its job on even the best day.

Needless to say there's a lot of Stupid out there when we need solutions. Dangerous levels of Stupid.

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